Brite Welcomes New Assistant Professor of Hebrew Bible

Dr. Ludwig Beethoven J. Noya to join Brite community August 1, 2026

FORT WORTH, TX – Today, Brite Divinity School is proud to welcome Dr. Ludwig Beethoven J. Noya as the new Assistant Professor of Hebrew Bible. Beginning this fall, Noya will draw on his expertise as a biblical scholar to instruct Brite students in engaging with ancient biblical texts and interdisciplinary readings within contemporary context.

“I’m excited and honored to join Brite’s long-standing legacy of innovative, transformative, and critically reflexive biblical scholarship. I look forward to walking alongside students and the broader community as we deeply engage with and struggle with biblical texts, especially in these critical times,” Noya said on joining the Brite community.

Born and raised in Indonesia, Noya completed a Ph.D. in Hebrew Bible at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. He also obtained master’s degrees from Boston University and Vanderbilt while doing coursework as a visiting student at Harvard University, Boston College, and Tel Aviv University. For his dissertation research, Noya also served as a visiting research associate at Radboud University Nijmegen in the Netherlands and the Cambridge Centre for Christianity Worldwide in the UK. Before joining Brite, he taught at Villanova University, Valparaiso University, and Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary.

“Dr. Ludwig Noya’s research combines rigorous philological and historical inquiry with interdisciplinary, decolonial, and justice-oriented analysis, opening new conversations about Sabbath, labor, and the politics of interpretation across ancient and modern contexts, said Rev. Dr. Shonda R. Jones, Brite’s Dean and Executive Vice President.

“In the classroom, he invites students to think carefully, read closely, and wrestle honestly with texts as resources for intellectual, ecclesial, and public life. We are delighted to welcome a creative teacher-scholar whose classroom presence and scholarly vision reflect the very best of contemporary biblical studies.”

Noya’s first monograph project reexamines Sabbath transgression narratives in the Hebrew Bible, connecting them with the Sabbath experiences in Antebellum North America and the British Colonial Global South. This monograph is under contract with Oxford University Press. Additionally, Noya serves as a board member of the Center and Library for the Bible and Social Justice (CLBSJ) and is the Bible Editor for the Asian American Theological Forum (AATF).

Read Dr. Noya’s full biography here.

About Brite Divinity School

Founded in 1914, Brite Divinity School is one of the premier progressive theological institutions in the Southwest. Located on the Texas Christian University Campus in Fort Worth, Texas; Brite Divinity School prepares leaders by focusing on excellent scholarship, pastoral training, and spiritual development through ministerial and academic programs. Led by a transformative calling, Brite Divinity School seeks to educate and inspire people to serve God’s diverse world as leaders in churches, the academy, and public life.